b&w love

When it comes to editing photos, I'm definitely not an expert. My editing knowledge comes from a combination of (1) a basic knowledge of photoshop, (2) tutorials, tips, and tricks that I've learned from other photographers, and (3) what I think looks good, based on my personal style preferences. It's a tricky business, this photo editing stuff, mostly because I don't really want my pictures to look very "edited" at all. (Over-editing was a mistake I used to make, and sometimes still do -- yikes.) I learn as I go, and tweak things along the way.

All that to say, I wanted to show you a few behind the scenes edits that I did recently to Matt and Liz's wedding -- and in the case of these photos, I want to show you the power of black and white to capture a moment. Let me preface all of this by saying {again} that I don't consider myself an expert in any way -- I'm just showing you what works for me :)

Also, nearly every picture that I'm highlighting below was taken by my second shooter at Matt and Liz's wedding -- my sister, Anna. {She takes rockin' pictures, doncha think?!} Since a second shooter often captures the more "photojournalistic" moments of a wedding day, I think they often lend themselves well to black and white conversion. Ok, here we go:

First up: a picture of Liz and her dad, walking down the aisle. Here's the straight-out-of-camera {SOOC} shot...

...and here's the B&W conversion. I chose B&W for this because your eyes are now first drawn to the facial expressions of Liz and her dad {which are priceless, don't you think?}, rather than to the peach-colored wall in the background. No offense, peach colored wall...

Next up: a sweet expression on the maid-of-honor's face during the ceremony. Here's the SOOC shot.

...and here's the B&W conversion.

This next one is my shot -- I took two versions of it, and did one in color and one in B&W. Here's the one I chose for the B&W conversion, SOOC:


...and here's the B&W. I like how all of the sudden, Liz's dress is like BAM! the first thing that catches your eye.

And lastly, here's a shot Anna took at the reception, right after the father-daughter dance. {Side note: at the reception, there were these beautiful pink spotlights illuminating the walls. They made for some awesome pictures, and some awfully-color-balanced shots. B&W conversion helped a bit to beat the system!}

SOOC:

...and B&W:

Many times, I've converted a shot to B&W, only to convert it right back to color -- if a photo is too "busy," with too many patterns or distracting elements, B&W will lend more confusion than clarity to a shot. But, when it's used correctly, B&W can be pretty rockin' awesome ;)

P.S. One technique I learned from this incredible photographer duo is that, once you convert your photo to B&W, adding a small touch of sepia tone to the photo makes it a softer, gentler B&W. And, you know, we're all about soft and gentle B&W's around here...

;)

second shooter

For those of you who haven't met him, allow me to introduce Marty, my second shooter:

He's good with a camera, and he's got killer eyes. So I keep him around...

: )

I'll show you some of his work whenever I get around to poasting the last wedding we shot together. Oh, and besides our near-death collision right smack in the middle of the bridal party shoot--more on that good stuff later--the entire day went really well! I didn't realize how fun it would be to have my better half shooting across the room from me ;)

fancy shmancy lenses (and their interpretations)

As promised, here's a quick peek at two of the lenses I'll be shooting with this weekend:

70-200mm 2.8 IS

This is a telephoto lens, perfect for shooting at long distances. It's great during a ceremony, and I really like to use it as a portrait lens, too. Because this is such a fast lens, when the focus is dead-on, images are creamy-smooth. Yum :)

{One drawback: this lens is heavy. I get a backache from carrying it around for two hours straight, which means that right after the wedding, a long shoulder rub is definitely in order!}

I last used this lens as a second-shooter; it's great for catching quick, happy moments from a distance, particularly when you're not right up on top of all the action:


16-35mm, 2.8

Ohhh my, I'm so very excited to shoot with this lens, too! It's a wide-angle lens, which means that it's great for capturing an entire scene with one shot. This weekend's wedding calls for a ton of group shots, and this pretty puppy should be able to help me out in that arena quite nicely!

We'll also be shooting with my favorite: the 50mm 1.4 (see a picture of it here). It's great for details, portraits, anything... I shot Anna and Steve's entire engagement shoot with this cutie patutie, and given the price-tag, it's not a tough buy for most photographers.

We've also picked up the Gary Fong lightsphere, a flash diffuser that should come in handy, since the venue is fairly dark inside. It kind of looks like a giant tupperware bowl, strapped to the top of your flash... but it gets the job done!

And, if you read to the bottom of this post... wow, thanks! Your love for photography probably helps you endure my silly ramblings ;)

Anna and Steve : engaged!

Sunrise. Coffee... (remember this?)

First, a story.

Since Anna and Steve met at college in St. Paul, I first encountered Steve on Facebook. We clicked on his profile, and up popped a big head of curly black hair. I then commenced my big-sister-Facebook-stalking: "He likes coffee? He's in a band? Wait. He plays the mandolin?"

Anna fell for this curly-headed mandolin player from Minnesota, and while it sounds cliche, I really don't think they could be any happier. I mean, come on. Steve makes Anna lattes with frothy hearts floating on top. It doesn't get any better than that ;)

I've been off-and-on editing these pictures all week. At long last, here are some shots from Anna and Steve's engagement shoot last Saturday. They were good sports and got up at sunrise with me... it was a chilly, below-freezing-tempatures morning, so while they may look all warm and snuggly in their short sleeves, picture me behind the camera, rockin' it out in a parka and handwarmers.

Isn't my sister beautiful?! Steve is quite the lucky guy...


*grin*




Click here to see a slideshow of the shoot!

And... p.s. happy first day of spring!!

Want to win a camera?

Pioneer Woman Photography is giving away a camera today.

I don't shoot with Nikon... but that's beside the point :)

It looks like thousands have already entered.
You probably should, too.
It's not every day that a blogger gives away a $1000 camera, in exchange for a comment...

If you'd like to enter, click here!

music to my ears

Happy Friday, dear bloggy friends :*)

There's something I'd like to share with you that has singlehandedly salvaged a potentially miserable day
(me + minimal sleep last night = cranky, pouty mess).

While editing, I'm listening to the playlist on Ethereal (a beautiful blog created by Georgia and her twin sister).
It's a soft, mellow, soothing set of songs, and it's elevating my brain above its foggy, befuddled, sleep-deprived state.

Hope your weekend is off to a lovely start!

P.S. The image above is SOOC (straight out of camera), taken with my point and shoot.
I'm going to start blogging more SOOC shots, both for the sake of improving my technical skills,
and to practice the exercise of humility :-)

Photo #17

Remember when that bridge collapsed in Minnesota awhile back? This is the bridge that they built to replace it.

I traveled over the old 35W bridge at least 6 times a week, a few years back when I lived in Minnesota. It was rickety, and always under construction, it seemed. Traffic crawled across that bridge during rush-hour

This past weekend was the first time I had been back to Minnesota since the bridge collapsed. It was surreal...

Photo #16

I thought we were going to Minnesota to watch a hockey game, go shopping, and drink coffee... but it just so happened that we took our trip the weekend my beauuutiful sister got engaged!

Steve proposed on Valentine's Day (Anna's favorite holiday), and the ring...? A heart-shaped diamond. Absolutely perfect, if you know my sister ;)

You'll be seeing more of these two around here in the weeks to come!

Photo #15

Pictures from our weekend trip, coming soon. Until then, enjoy your Sunday :)

Happy Love Day (and photo #14)

Happy hearts day, everyone! Hope your lovey-dovey Saturday is filled with lots of hugs and smooches (if you don't have a significant other, that's ok; smooch your dog instead!).

I wish I had time to go crazy with buttons and doileys and construction paper. If I did, I'd make a bunch of heart-shaped valentines, and figure out a way to distribute them via the internet, to friends like you... Alas, I'm not that crafty, and thus I doubt you'd want anything handmade from me! So imagine that I'm sending you a Martha-Stewart-esque valentine, with your name on it, straight from my heart :)

Here's the card I'm giving my husband (*storebought* *cough*):
Maybe Hallmark came up with it, but I mean absolutely every word they said :)


I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the greatest love of all, on this lovey-dovey day:

"For God loved the world so much, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16)

That, my friends, is the greatest love of all, better than love from a best friend, or a parent, or even a husband. Don't miss out on that kind of lovin'! Get to know God's love :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo #13 (and favorite things...)

Happy Friday, bloggy friends!

The weather has reverted back to it's normal Chicago-in-February state (and Old Man Winter is chuckling that so many of us were faked out by that brief taste of spring. Suckers...). All of this means that outdoor shooting is pretty miserable these days... but that's ok. Indoor shooting, to the rescue!

Without further ado, here's a photographic list of some of the things I'm lovin' right now (a.k.a., anything within reach when I had my camera in my hand. Hey, blogs are about honesty, right?!).


This baby notebook stays by my side all day long. It holds my lists: books to read, things to do, verses to memorize, goals to remember, pictures to take, etc... And it reminds me that I need to go back to Venice one day.


This is my miracle tea-pot. I call it that, because Marty found it in a dumpster, unbroken and absolutely beautiful. (Please don't ask what my husband was doing in a dumpster....)


Our recent food obsession: edamame beans from Trader Joe's. These things are the bomb dot com. (Sarah introduced them to me. Sarah is cool, and she's going to be starting an awesome food blog. Really soon. *hint*hint*)


Freshly-bought yarn, for my latest knitting project. (I like to knit in small bursts, about a week at a time, spread out through the winter. I don't touch the stuff in the summer. Too wooly.)

This weekend, we're taking a road trip to Minnesota; I'm going to drink Dunn Brothers coffee until I slip into a caffeinated coma, hang out with my baby sister, and do some rather serious shopping (because here's a little-known fact about the frigid state of Minnesota: there's no sales tax on clothes! *cue Hallelujah chorus*).

Have a happy weekend...

Photo #12

Photo #11

The competition ;)

Photo #10

I took a walk today, and brought my wellies along, so I could prance around in the mud:


I just wanted to be outside (we Chicagoans have to take advantage of balmy weather in February, while we can). "Nature" has been devoid of color for over three months now, so even dead stalks of prairie grass look good. Humph.


And maybe a new shoot location? So shabby chic ;)

Photo #9

Real hockey = Skating on an outdoor rink:

Photo #8

It's been an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Chicago. Lately, it's been too cold to even stand outside for more than a few minutes, which makes 50 degrees feel like bikini-beach weather (seriously, my polka-dot flip-flops looked tempting today).

It probably won't last. We'll probably be back down to sub-zero, freeze-your-nostrils temps by next week. But, so what? I'm happy with this slice of spring that we got to taste, even if it was just a sliver...

So what did I do in honor of this gorgeous weather? I went for a run (outside), washed the car (outside), and watched the sunset with my best friend...

...outside :)

Photo #7

The sun came out today...

happy weekend :)

Photo #6

Recent studies have shown that some high-fructose corn syrups contain high levels of mercury (i.e., absolutely toxic to your brain). And HF corn syrup happens to be the #1 ingredient in chocolate syrup, which also happens to be my husband's absolute favorite...

Thus:

(Marty's reaction, after I told him we had to throw out his beloved chocolate syrup.)


BTW, this photo was shot via in-camera B&W, after I read this article about the concept. Good stuff!

Photo #5

Spilled Starbucks (never a good thing)...


And a bonus photo: This pic may seem nondescript...

...but that piece of paper means that, as of today, I'm officially open for business :)

Photo #4